Interest Rate ... Interest rates targets are also a vital tool of monetary policy and are taken into account when dealing with variables like investment, inflation, and unemployment. Historical interest rates In the past two centuries, interest rates have been variously set either by national governments or central banks...
Inflation Targeting ... Because interest rates and the inflation rate tend to be inversely related, the likely moves of the central bank to raise or lower interest rates become more transparent under the policy of inflation targeting. Examples: if inflation appears to be above the target, the bank is likely to raise interest rates...
Consumption Tax ... In Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Singapore this form of national tax is called a Goods and Services Tax (GST). In Canada it is also called Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) when combined with a provincial sales tax...
Real Estate ... It is a legal term in jurisdictions, such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, United States of America, Dubai, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and The Bahamas. Real estate law is the body of regulations and legal codes which pertain to such matters under a particular jurisdiction and concerns such things as commercial and residential property ownership, development, and transactions...
Home Insurance ... It is a multiple-line insurance, meaning that it includes both property and liability coverage, with an indivisible premium, meaning that a single premium is paid for all risks. Standard forms divide coverage into several categories, and the coverage provided is typically a percentage of Coverage A, which is coverage for the main dwelling...
Tax Rate ... In a jurisdiction with a flat tax on earnings, every taxpayer pays the same percentage of income, regardless of income or consumption. Some proponents of this system propose to exempt a fixed amount of earnings (such as the first $10,000) from the flat tax...
Demand Deposit ... Money Supply Demand deposits are usually considered part of the narrowly defined money supply, as they can be used, via checks and drafts, as a means of payment for goods and services and to settle debts... During times of financial crisis, bank customers will withdraw their funds in cash, leading to a drop in demand deposits and a shrinking of the money supply...
Unit Of Account ... In modern economies, money in the form of currency usually serves the role of the standard unit of account...
Monetary Policy ... Overview Monetary policy rests on the relationship between the rates of interest in an economy, that is, the price at which money can be borrowed, and the total supply of money... Where currency is under a monopoly of issuance, or where there is a regulated system of issuing currency through banks which are tied to a central bank, the monetary authority has the ability to alter the money supply and thus influence the interest rate (to achieve policy goals)... A policy is referred to as contractionary if it reduces the size of the money supply or increases it only slowly, or if it raises the interest rate...
Banknote ... Banknotes offer an alternative bearer form of money, but the advantages and disadvantages between the two forms of bearer money are complex and so in different circumstances the overall advantage can lie with either form... Numerous banks and nations have incorporated many types of countermeasures in order to keep the money secure... Paper money originated in two forms: drafts, which are receipts for value held on account, and "bills", which were issued with a promise to convert at a later date...
History Of Money ... Many items have been used as commodity money such as natural scarce precious metals, cowry shells, barley, beads etc., as well as many other things that are thought of as having value...
Representative Money ... According to economist William Stanley Jevons (1875), representative money arose because metal coins often were "variously clipped or depreciated" during use, but using representations for the value stored in banks ensured its worth...
Fiat Money ... Fiat money originated in 11th century China, and its use became widespread during the Yuan and Ming dynasties... Characteristics The term fiat money has been defined variously as: any money declared by a government to be legal tender... state-issued money which is neither convertible by law to any other thing, nor fixed in value in terms of any objective standard...
Inheritance Tax ... In some jurisdictions the term used is death duty. For historical reasons that term is used colloquially (though not legally) in the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth nations...
Medium Of Exchange ... A medium of exchange permits the value of goods to be assessed and rendered in terms of the intermediary, most often, a form of money widely accepted to buy any other good... Definition Money is the common Medium of Exchange and its most important and essential function is that it is 'measure of value'... Critics of the prevailing system of fiat money argue that fiat money is the root cause of the continuum of economic crises, since it leads to the dominance of fraud, corruption, and manipulation precisely because it does not satisfy the criteria for a medium of exchange cited above...
Wealth Tax ... In France, the net worth tax on "natural persons" is called the "solidarity tax on wealth". In other places, the tax may be called, or be known as, a "Capital Tax", an "Equity Tax", a "Net Worth Tax", a "Net Wealth Tax", or just a "Wealth Tax"...
Insurance ... Insurance is a commercial enterprise and a major part of the financial services industry, but individual entities can also self-insure through saving money for possible future losses...
Health Insurance ... 1) a contract between an insurance provider (e.g. an insurance company or a government) and an individual or his sponsor (e.g...
Payment Protection Insurance ... Credit insurance can be purchased to insure all kinds of consumer loans including car loans, loans from finance companies, and home mortgage borrowing. Credit card agreements may include a form of PPI cover as standard...